BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – After GOP nominee Donald Trump was the only high-profile figure to visit Louisiana flood victims immediately following unprecedented flooding, the American Red Cross is admitting that getting donations has been tougher than usual.
The flooding, which has killed 13 people and destroyed more than 60,000 homes in the region, received relatively little mainstream media attention until Trump made his visit, where he donated supplies to victims.
But, the Red Cross said they’re struggling to get donations to help rebuild the area.
“The Red Cross has received approximately $7.8 million in donations and pledges designated to support Louisiana — not nearly enough to cover our costs of at least an estimated $30 million,” the Red Cross said in a statement to NBC. “The needs of the people of Louisiana are great, and we ask the public to please donate as generously as they can.”
Over 106,000 residents have already registered to receive federal aid, as state officials said they have already distributed $20 million for disaster relief.
The news of lower-than-average donations for flood victims through the Red Cross comes just as President Obama visited the state after being widely criticized for not cutting his Martha’s Vineyard vacation short last week.
Obama made the visit to the state after Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) requested that he travel to the region to tour the damage of the flooding.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has nonetheless refused to schedule a visit to the state, saying that she does not want to “disrupt” the clean-up efforts.
Clinton traveled, instead, to Martha’s Vineyard to celebrate her husband, former President Bill Clinton’s birthday while the Obama’s were still vacationing at the swanky vacation spot.
Trump called Obama’s visit to the state “too little, too late,” in a Twitter post, saying that he should have visited the region immediately following the devastation, as he did.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.